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Scotsman
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Exclusive interview with Jack Lowden as the Slow Horses actor records his first audio book, Muckle Flugga
Actor Jack Lowden and author Michael Pedersen. Lowden has narrated the audiobook of Pedersen's debut novel Muckle Flugga. | Shaun Murawski The chance to narrate Michael Pedersen's debut novel Muckle Flugga was an opportunity the Scottish actor couldn't miss Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Scottish actor Jack Lowden has voiced the Audible recording of Muckle Flugga by poet and author Michael Pedersen, Edinburgh's Makar and current Writer in Residence at The University of Edinburgh. It is Lowden's first audio book narration and Pedersen's first novel, released today following the publication of Muckle Flugga in May, the fantastical story of those living at Britain's most northerly lighthouse located off the coast of Unst in the Shetland islands. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Lauded by the likes of Stephen Fry and Nicola Sturgeon, Pedersen's novel takes the reader on a wild and wonderful journey with the imaginary inhabitants of the 'cliff island', a father and son whose lives are turned upside down by the arrival of a stranger from the city. Speaking about his first foray into audio books, Lowden explains that when he was asked by Pedersen's publisher to narrate Muckle Flugga, it was an unmissable opportunity. Jack Lowden and Michael Pedersen. Lowden has narrated the audiobook of Pedersen's debut novel Muckle Flugga. | Shaun Murawski 'I felt I needed to do this,' says Lowden. 'I'd read Michael's memoir, Boy Friends and was obsessed with it. I get so excited when there's talent of that level that's homegrown, it's such a buzz, and to be asked to do this made complete sense.' Lowden was Pedersen's first choice as narrator after seeing the actor perform on screen and stage. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I'd seen him in different roles and been ensorcelled by him. I felt he wouldn't just narrate, that there was such depth and dedication to his acting he would inhabit the story. There's the location and characters, Jack delivers it all with eclat and bravura.' Author Michael Pedersen in the Shetland Islands with Muckle Flugga and its lighthouse in the distance. | Hollie McNish Lowden is currently in rehearsals for Netflix's Pride and Prejudice - the first Scot to play Mr Darcy - after the London run of National Theatre of Scotland's The Fifth Step, and the Bafta and Olivier Award winner threw himself into bringing Pedersen's unique cast of characters, including the ghost of Robert Louis Stevenson, to life. 'It was fascinating. I've never done an audio book and didn't know how to go about it. Full disclosure, I chose not to read it beforehand. Because you very rarely as an actor get to perform or read anything cold and experience it as you go along. I jumped on the fire!' 'The characters are all very different and I didn't come in with any preconceptions, my opinion of them changed as the chapters went by. I didn't know what was going to happen next.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad For Pedersen, hearing Muckle Flugga read by someone else gave it a fresh perspective. 'It's the biggest opportunity I've ever had to listen to my own work as a reader or spectator. Because everything's been autobiographical and poetry, it makes no sense to have anyone else read it but because of the range of voices, we needed a professional actor. 'I was really particular about suggesting people to narrate because there were moments of darkness and despair that Jack could portray and also lilting fun, and some brilliantly Scottish profanities that I was excited to hear Jack flying out with. I spat out my soup in a cafe listening at one point.' For Lowden, the Scottish dialogue tripped off the tongue 'Maybe because I'm an actor, any kind of dialogue I would barely fluff, because they have roughly my accent or vernacular, where with the narration, it was a bit more stumbly. But the production team were brilliant and it was a fun experience.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As well as loving the book, Lowden was driven by a desire to champion Scottish artists and locations. 'It's so promising to have people like Michael. Artists that are completely singular but so embedded in where he's from, celebrating it. To find a prolific Scottish artist that isn't tartanised in that shortbread tinned Walter Scott kind of vein. He's more John Byrne, Peter Capaldi and that mad sort of outer space artistry we have in this country. We have such a rich heritage of that running alongside and sometimes pushing past it and overtaking it.' Jack Lowden and Pedersen during the recording of Muckle Flugga. Pedersen's novel set in Shetland. | Shaun Murawski A vivid rollercoaster of a book, the world of Muckle Flugga is so vividly wrought by Pedersen that a screen version would seem to be the next step. Would Lowden appear? 'If Michael wanted me in it, yeah, I would probably, but it would need to be in a couple of years. I don't get any time.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Pedersen also is in no rush, savouring the Muckle Flugga moment as he appears at book festivals, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and events, although he is engaged in the beginnings of a follow-up that continues the characters' stories. 'I want to give this story time to breathe. The paperback comes out next year and it's being translated. If it travels into an adaptation, I want to be there to service every element of it.' In the meantime an audio book brings a new audience. Michael Pedersen with former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. | Michael Pedersen 'It's another manifestation and equally important,' says Pedersen. 'To sit down and read, when people are working long hours can be a privilege and many struggle with dyslexia, but to listen and experience that way, there's a whole new audience. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'And people love that it's Jack Lowden narrating his first ever audiobook and that it's a stridently Scottish story that he's putting his name to. 'If I read Jack Lowden was doing his first audiobook, I would listen to that regardless of what the story was because I know he would have been particular about the story he chose.' Muckle Flugga by Michael Pedersen is available to listen to now on Audible. Muckle Flugga is published by Faber, hardback, £14.99, Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Val McDermid hits out on Baillie Gifford 'virtue signalling'
Speaking ahead of the return of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which parted company with Baillie Gifford after a 20-year partnership in the wake of protests from climate activists, McDermid said the company had been 'unfairly pilloried.' Read more: The Fife-born writer warned of the risk of festivals and the arts having to be over-reliant on public funding and the support of private philanthropists in future. McDermid was speaking two years after climate activist Greta Thunberg pulled the plug on a sold-out appearance at the Edinburgh book festival in the wake of reports of Baillie Gifford's links to the fossil fuels industry, saying she did not want to be associated with 'greenwashing.' Crime writer Val McDermid has spoken out over criticisms of Baillie Gifford's sponsorship of festivals. (Image: The University of Edinburgh) At the time, Baillie Gifford insisted it was not a 'significant fuel investor.' It claimed only two per cent of its clients' money was invested in companies with links to the fossil fuels industry, compared to five per cent it said was invested in companies developing 'clean energy solutions.' The Edinburgh International Book Festival is now staged at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. However, the campaign group Fossil Free Books stepped up action against book festivals backed by Baillie Gifford in the spring of last year. Hundreds of writers backed an open letter warning the festivals to expect escalation, including the expansion of boycotts, increased author withdrawal of labour, and increased disruption.' Organisers of Edinburgh's event announced the end of its Baillie Gifford partnership two weeks later, blaming the 'withdrawal of several authors and threats of disruption.' Organisers of the annual book festivals in Wigtown and the Borders also announced the end of their involvement with Baillie Gifford. The Edinburgh book festival, which is by far Scotland's oldest and biggest celebration of literature, which has seen its government funding more than doubled in the space of 12 months, to a record £820,000. A further £160,000 increase planned for the next financial year is expected to see the festival's government funding rise by more than £1.5m by 2027-2028 compared to the last three years of Baillie Gifford's involvement with the event, which it supported through its schools and children's programme. The government has agreed to provide £300,000 in funding for the next three years to plug the gap created by the loss of Baillie Gifford's support. McDermid is one of 641 writers due to appear across almost 700 events in the forthcoming two-week programme of events, which will run from August 9-24. She told The Herald: 'Last year was difficult for this book festival. This year hasn't been easy, but I think we can all see a light at the end of the tunnel now. 'The festival has come back with a really strong programme, with a lot of interesting themes and writers. I think people will really show up. 'It's been a tough experience for the festival to pull it back from losing its principal funder. 'I know how hard the festival director Jenny Niven has worked with her team to recover the financial position, but it's still been difficult. 'There's no question that the festival has got less to play with than it had before.' McDermid was among a group of leading Scottish authors who backed an open letter which described the targeting of book festivals as 'deeply retrograde' and 'ill thought-out' over their sponsors. Others included Alexander McCall Smith, Andrew O'Hagan, Chris Brookmyre, Denise Mina, Doug Johnston, David Greig and Liz Lochhead. Many of the writers who backed the Fossil Free Books campaign have accepted invitations to appear at this year's Edinburgh book festival, including Ali Smith, Hannah Lavery, Jess Brough, Raymond Antrobus, Chitra Ramaswamy, Andrés N Ordorica, Harry Josephine Giles and Katie Goh. McDermid, who is due to make four appearances at the festival this August, said: 'The Edinburgh book festival was pushed into a corner last year by a group of people who, I think in many cases, saw it as an opportunity to put their name in public lights. 'The level of hypocrisy among some of the people involved was quite staggering. 'A lot of people just jumped on a bandwagon without thinking about it. 'There was a lot of virtue signalling, rather than sincerely held opinions from people who had actually researched the topic and knew what they were talking about. 'No-one is saying that Baillie Gifford is white than white. But there is no such thing as a clean sponsor. 'If you dig deep, everybody who sponsors an arts event has got something in the cupboard that you would be uncomfortable with.' 'What do you do? Are we not going to have book festivals anymore? Are we not going to have the arts unless they are sponsored by rich individuals. How clean are they?' McDermid suggested there was a risk of a return to the Renaissance era, 14th to the 17th century, when 'rich patrons' were relied on to fund the arts. She added: 'The arts shouldn't be dictated to by one individual or even one political party. 'I don't think the arts should be entirely funded by state funding. That would be wholly dangerous and potentially pernicious. 'There needs to be a mix of funding sources, including ticket sales, individual philanthropists and corporate sponsors too. 'We have to be careful where we take money from, but I think Baillie Gifford was unfairly pilloried in the circumstances.' A separate campaign group, Art Workers For Palestine Scotland, has targeted a number of other arts organisations backed by Baillie Gifford in recent months, including the [[Edinburgh]] International Festival and Fringe Society, over the company's links with defence firm Babcock International. [[The Herald]] told last year how Baillie Gifford had more than £60 million worth of shares in the owner of Rosyth Dockyard in Fife, which has previously worked with state-owned Israeli arms manufacturers.
Time of India
26-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Study links autoimmune condition with near doubling of mental health risks
New Delhi: Having an autoimmune condition , in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and damages healthy tissues and organs, could be linked to a near doubling of risk of experiencing persistent mental health issues, a study has found. Researchers from The University of Edinburgh, UK, said that a persistent inflammation, which is a hallmark of autoimmune disorders, could explain the risks. Women were found to be at a higher mental health risk, compared to men having the same conditions, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Mental Health. The study looked at six autoimmune disorders that included rheumatoid arthritis (affects joints), inflammatory bowel disease and lupus, which can damage kidneys and brain among other organs. The researchers said that inflammation is linked to mental ill-health. However, many studies have looked at small sample sizes, limiting their validity. They analysed data of 15.6 lakh people from a UK dataset, of which 37,808 reported autoimmune conditions. "Overall, the risk of affective disorders among people living with autoimmune conditions was nearly twice that of the general population," the authors wrote. Further, those with autoimmune conditions were more likely to be women, and at a higher chance that their parents were diagnosed with a mood disorder -- such as depression, anxiety or bipolar -- at least once in life. A diagnosis of mood disorder was found to be prevalent among 29 per cent of the participants affected by an autoimmune condition, compared to the general population (18 per cent). Similarly, depression and anxiety were prevalent among 25.5 per cent and 21 per cent of the autoimmune-affected, compared to 15 per cent and 12.5 per cent in the general population, the researchers found. Further, while overall prevalence of bipolar disorder was much lower, it was found to be significantly higher among those having an autoimmune disorder -- about one per cent, compared to 0.5 per cent of those not having the disorder. Mood disorders were also seen to be significantly and consistently higher among women (32 per cent), compared to men (21 per cent) having the same health conditions. The authors cautioned that being an observational study, the results do not allow to establish a cause-and-effect link. However, "this analysis of a large national dataset suggests that chronic exposure to systemic inflammation may be linked to a greater risk for affective (mood) disorder", the team said. The 'Our Future Health' dataset was used for the study. The participants responded to questionnaires with personal, social, health and lifestyle information upon enrollment to the study.
Scotsman
02-06-2025
- Science
- Scotsman
Scottish Pupil designs Bench Bed to help the homeless
Libby, from Cockenzie Primary School in East Lothian, submitted her engineering idea to Primary Engineer's annual UK STEM competition which asks pupils aged 3 –19 the question 'If you were an engineer, what would you do?'. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... She was recognised as one of the winners in her year group at the Scotland South East award ceremony, one of 25 regional UK events, in 2024. Her creation is a bench by day but can become a bed by night, folding down to become a bed with walls surrounding it making it a warm environment for homeless people to sleep in. The design has been praised for its social impact, practicality, and real-world potential. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Each year Industry and University partners of Primary Engineer choose a pupil's idea to build into a Prototype and to be revealed a year later at the regional awards ceremony. Libby's proud family The University of Edinburgh, School of Engineering selected Libby's idea to bring to life during the 2024-2025 academic year because it was brilliant to see a young person caring for those in a less fortunate position than themselves, putting in time and effort to think of how to improve their situation by giving them a safe, warm, and dry place to sleep. It was particularly heartening to see that the pupil was thinking of more than just her community, stating 'there are millions of homeless people all around the world'. Dr Katie Grant, Widening Participation and Outreach Manager at the university said 'We were blown away by Libby's compassion for others and her brilliant engineering design. The whole ProtoTeam has really enjoyed working with Libby over the last year. The competition has given her a great opportunity to learn more about the different aspects of what it is like to be an engineer and we are thrilled that she is even considering engineering as a future career path!' The team of technicians at The University worked closely with Libby, invited her to the university and involved her in the design process. Libby said 'I really enjoyed being involved in Primary Engineer. It has been an amazing experience for me, getting to go to the university and take part in making my bench. Everyone on the team is super friendly and I loved working with them. I really felt like I was part of the team. I loved getting to see the final product and how far it's come! Thank you!' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The finished prototype was officially unveiled on 28th May 2025 at the Scotland South East regional award ceremony hosted at The University of Edinburgh. Libby's family attended the event said they were 'very proud' of her. Kelly, Libby's mum, commented to say 'Being involved in Primary Engineer has been such good experience. It has been lovely to see Libby grow in confidence, speaking to the team and other agencies. It was great being part of the ceremony, seeing all the other children's ideas and seeing the final bench". Libby's idea 'If you were an Engineer, what would you do' is an annual, national competition free to enter for all 3-19 school pupils. Entries are open now for 2025-2026 and schools can register now at
Scotsman
29-05-2025
- Science
- Scotsman
Local children's engineering ideas celebrated at The University of Edinburgh
An awards and exhibition event was held on 28th May 2025 in Edinburgh, which showcased and celebrated local school pupils across Scotland South East region for their engineering ideas submitted to the Primary Engineer annual UK STEM competition. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... These pupils had taken part in a national competition, run by educational not-for-profit Primary Engineer, where they answered the question 'If you were an engineer, what would you do?'. Pupils interview an engineer, learn how to think like an Engineer and are tasked with identifying a problem in the world around them and coming up with a creative solution to that problem. Entries were then graded by local industry professionals before going to a regional judging panel where they picked two winners and two highly commended for each year group. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The highly commended and winning pupils were awarded trophies and framed certificates of their ideas, with 26 pupils from schools in the area being celebrated. Libby, ProtoPupil, with The Bench Bed Prototype brought to life by The University of Edinburgh Congratulations to all the pupils, including Primary 7 pupil Malina from St David's Primary School, whose idea 'Memory Giver Alzheimers watch' stood out for the judges and won the special 'Judges Award'. Every year University and Industry Partners of Primary Engineer select an idea to turn into a working Prototype from the previous year's winning designs. The Bench Bed prototype was unveiled at the ceremony, brought to life by The University of Edinbugh, School of Engineering, based on the idea of Libby, from Cockenzie Primary School. 'If you were an Engineer, what would you do' is an annual, national competition free to enter for all 3-19 school pupils. Entries are open now for 2025-2026 and schools can register now at Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Primary Engineer Public Exhibitions and Award Ceremonies continue all over the UK through to July, with thousands of pupils engineering ideas being displayed for all to see. Find out more:
